The third edition of Dehradun Community literature Festival (DClF) commenced at the World Integrity Center (WIC) India. The first day saw participation of eminent authors and artists. The authors who held sessions during the first day of the festival included Mona Verma, Ranjit lal, Ravinder Singh, Meir Shalev, IPS officer Ashok Kumar, Dr Vijay Bansal, Shaurya Doval, Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Burman and Aloke lal.
The festival started with a session on ‘The soul of Israeli culture in Shalev’s literature’ by noted Israeli author Meir Shalev. The session was moderated by Rishi Suri. Shalev talked about his books and commented on the cross-culture phenomenon. He stated, "My books are free of politics. My novels describe society and reality related to families, memory and revenge." He also talked about his book 'Pigeon and a Boy'. “In western culture pigeon is a symbol of love and peace and I felt that getting love letters from pigeon would be exciting. Therefore, I wrote this book,” he added.
This was followed by a session on ‘Will you still love me’ wherein Ravinder Singh was in conversation with Mona Verma. Speaking about his first book Singh said, “My first book which was titled ‘I Too Had a love Story’ was dedicated to my girlfriend Khushi who passed away.”
He further added, “I walked into a relationship which never materialised. She passed away and I lost her. It was a difficult phase of my life and I would cry to sleep. My days would pass but nights were full of void. I was aged 25 years then. I took to writing. I thought sharing my grief would lessen it. Heartbreaks make you very creative. When you are in pain you are more human. It is at this time when you divert yourself to fill that void and generally succeed in whatever you choose to do,” added Singh. He also spoke of the hurdles in the distribution of his first book and how young authors face similar problems.
In another session on ‘Thinking on Paper: Youth and the Significance of Writing’, Mona Verma and Ranjit lal talked about various aspects of writing. The session was moderated by Ruby Gupta. Recipient of the Uttarakhand Ratna 2014, Haridwar based author Mona Verma is the author of three acclaimed works of fiction ‘A Bridge to Nowhere’, ‘God is a River: A Story of Faith’, and ‘The White Shadow.’ Ranjit lal is an author of the award-winning book 'Faces in the Water'.
Dehradun-based journalists Arun Pratap Singh, Anupam Trivedi, DS Rathod and academician Harsh Dobhal shared their views in the session ‘The Unending Chase: Tabloids versus Tablets’. later the state’s additional director general of police Ashok Kumar and Vijay Bansal participated in a session on civil servants and their contribution to literature, art and culture.
The first day of the DClF 2018 concluded with an evening debate on ‘Idea of India: Truth of Independence and legacy of Partition’. The debate was held between Shaurya Doval, Aloke lal and Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Burman. Doval is the director of the India Foundation think tank while Aloke lal is a former IPS officer.
The three-day DClF is slated to witness more than 50 authors from across the globe before its conclusion on April 21.